Image and video disclosure of substance use on social media websites

1 NOTICE: This is the author's version of a work accepted for publication by Elsevier. Changes resulting from the publishing process, including peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting and other quality control mechanisms, may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. The definitive version has been published in Abstract: The present study examines young adults' use of social media websites, such as MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube, to post public images and videos of themselves depicting alcohol consumption, inebriated behavior, or recreational marijuana use. A content analysis revealed that the majority of image and video representations of alcohol consumption depicted females in social gatherings while images and videos depicting marijuana use depicted solitary males. Videos typically were viewed frequently and gained positive ratings. Among a sample of college students, one-third of participants reported having posted a picture depicting substance use on a social networking site, with 97 percent aware that others engage in this phenomenon. Students' perceptions of alcohol-related postings were generally positive or seen as a matter of individual choice while marijuana-related postings were generally viewed more negatively. Social media websites such as MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube have grown rapidly in recent years making it easier than ever to both view and distribute personal media on the Web. Facebook users logged over 13.9 billion college students frequently use social networking websites: One study found that college students reported visiting social network profiles an average of 2.4 to 4.19 times a day for an average of one to two and a half hours (Moreno, et al., 2009; Raacke & Bonds-Raacke, 2008). College students report using social networking websites to make new friends, locate old friends and to keep in touch with current friends (Raacke & Bonds-Raacke, 2008). Social network profiles also provide an avenue for identity construction and representation, usually in the form of " showing " rather than " telling " (Zhao, Grasmuch, & Martin, 2008). Despite the positive outcomes of using social networking websites, such as feelings of mastery, identity exploration, and peer group interaction online social networking activities can also include less positive activities. Several studies have identified that as many as half of all adolescents and young adults with social networking profiles display negative health risk behaviors, including sexual behaviors and substance use found that 85% of young adult's publicly accessible MySpace profiles displayed …